September 30, 2014

On Day 9 we visited the vikings. L'Anse aux Meadows is where the vikings landed in... a year a long long time ago! They set up camp - I would've too. Look how beautiful it is!

This is the actual place where actual viking buildings stood.

Driving back down/up the coast we stopped at Flower's Cove to visit the thrombolites. They are fossils of bacteria and algae that are about 650 million years old! This is one of only two places where thrombolites are found - the other is in Australia! Maybe we'll go see those one day.

This is the only real sketch of the day! So much driving! We did stop in Port aux Choix for more fish chowder - I wrote in my sketchbook that it's the best fish chowder EVER.

September 29, 2014

What a great birthday! We started the day with a traditional Newfie breakfast - including fish cakes, toutons and molasses, potatoes, and beans. And to make it even better, it was made by our buddy Pauline.

After (sadly) leaving the Fishermans Landing Inn, we drove "down the coast" as the Newfies say - actually north up the Northern Peninsula. We made a couple of stops on the way - we saw some rocks (there was an old shipwreck there, too, whatev), some whales!, and The Arches Provincial Park, before stopping at Port aux Choix for lunch at the Anchor Cafe. They had the best fish chowder in all of Newfoundland!

We drove all the way up to St. Anthony, mostly right along the coast. At one point we could see the rest of Canada across the water. Well, we could see Labrador.

My birthday dinner was at the restaurant in St. Anthony, the Lightkeeper's Seafood Restaurant, and much to our surprise there was an iceberg right out the window! Like they put it there just for us on my birthday!

September 28, 2014

Here are the sketching supplies I carried with me on our trip to Newfoundland.

Usually I have a bag of this, a bag of that, but I decided to consolidate this time since I already had this great bag from jetpens.com. I'm glad I did - so much neater.

It carries a lot.

1. Pens

white Uni-ball Signo pen - don't use it that much but when I need it I need it

Hi-Tec-C .25 black pen - makes teeny tiny lines - had fun using it with watercolor in the second sketch here

Pentel brush pen - love this one, but actually didn't use it all that much this trip

Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen in "skyblue" - for skies

2. Watercolor pens

the 1st, 2nd, and 4th of these are Pentel Aquash waterbrush pens filled with Dr. PH Marten's watercolor - I actually didn't use these as much as I normally do. Different surroundings call for different supplies, and you never really know what you'll need until you get there. I admire sketchers who use their supplies more consistently than I do.

the 3rd is a Kuretake waterbrush pen filled with water. I find that the Pentel Aquash are better for color and the Kuretake is better for water.

Pentel ink brush pen - this comes filled with ink already. I love it! I like using it to sketch people lately.(All of these supplies go in my carry-on quart bag of liquids on the plane.)

3. Colored pencils

most of these are Derwent watercolor pencils

except that first one, which is Prismacolor watercolor - I brought it specifically for the Newfoundland flag, which my guidebook told me was pink and white and green and was flown everywhere. However, it is neither the Newfoundland flag, nor is it flown everywhere. It is the old Republic of Newfoundland flag, which was replaced by a Newfoundland Canadian Province flag in the (I want to say...) 1980s or '90s, and that one is flown everywhere. I saw maybe four of the pink/white/green flag in all of our 2500 miles of driving, but I certainly did sketch one with my pink colored pencil!

the other odd one out is the 5th one over, a double-sided "Mitsu-bishi" vermilion/prussian blue pencil like the ones we used in grade school. This came in handy because of the red - so many Canadian flags!

And one 4B graphite pencil, for good measure.

4. various clips, paper towel, kneaded eraser, tiny pencil sharpener

5. Winsor & Newton artists' watercolor in a tiny Altoids tin. I didn't have time to do it properly by spraying the tin with enamel paint, but I didn't need the top to mix the colors anyway - I just used them all straight.

8. These three things I carried in my purse separate from the green bag, to be more easily accessible:

Hi-Tec-C Coleto multi-pen - As I said before, this thing is my new best friend. I filled it with blue black, green, clear blue, and apricot orange, all 0.4. I included orange because I love orange, but next time I will replace it with red, because more things in the world are red than are orange. Especially in Canada.

Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen in black - I love the blue-black in the multi-pen, but sometimes you just need black, plus I liked being able to switch from the ballpoint/rollerball type Hi-Tec-C to a felt tip pen.

Mechanical pencil - for making little comics about the trip. I promise to share those with you soon.

September 25, 2014

This pretty much sums up day 7. Adventure jacket, sketchbook, great big smile, on a boat, in a fjord.

Western Brook Pond is a little more than a pond. I'd like to tell you what all is going on there, but I was way too busy sketching to listen to our tour guides, Brad and Rebecca (click image for more detail). Just look at the pictures here and you'll see a little of what I'm talking about.

I could not stop sketching. The Hi-Tec-C Coleto multi-pen was the perfect instrument for sketching quickly on a boat - no pen top to lose, and I had more than one color right there to differentiate mountains and sky.

One thing I do know about these mountains is that they are part of the Appalachian Mountains!

After all of this sketching and looking, oohing and aahing, taking selfies and talking to other passengers, we took the little hike back to our car, then back to Rocky Harbour for moose burgers and moose pizza and another grand nap.

We ended the day having a lovely visit with Pauline, learning more about Newfoundland.

September 23, 2014

On... whatever day this was... we drove about an hour from Rocky Harbour to another area of Gros Morne National Park, The Tablelands, for a hike. This is an area that is a geological anomaly - it is made up of a type of rock that is thought to originate in the earth's mantle. So instead of the lush green that you find throughout the rest of Newfoundland, it is very brown due to the high iron content.

By the time we were in the parking lot I was ready to sketch! I started with a few cars there in the upper right (click image for more detail).

Then right away I had to stop to sketch the plants, rocks, and water before putting my things away to concentrate on the hike.

The easily-accessible hiking area stops at a seating area with an amazing view, so I sat and sketched. This is one of my favorites from the whole trip.

We very carefully hiked off the path for a bit after that, before returning to the park's welcome center. Right after we got there it started raining!

We ate lunch in Woody Point at the Old Loft Restaurant. I was happy I brought this color of colored pencil because everything in the place was that color! I had a cup of fish chowder, which at the time was the best fish chowder I'd had.

Woody Point

Then back to Rocky Harbour for a NAP. Later that evening I decided to walk to Rocky Harbour proper from our hotel, about a 10-minute walk, to get a donair pizza*. Well, I forgot about the whole rain thing and ended up getting completely soaked on the walk back. But it did give Toby enough time to make friends with some of the folks at the Fisherman's Landing Inn, Pauline and Dave.

*What is donair pizza? Here's how it was described to me: "Well, it's donair sauce and cheese and donair meat on a pizza."